Is this idea madness?

[Steben]

Currently dd1 is at a private pre school. It was never our intention to go private but for various long and boring reasons attached to her nursery we kept her on there and to be honest we couldn't be happier. Dd2 is currently with a childminder and it's my intention she will go to the same nursery when she turns two. However dd1 is due to start state school in September (we don't know what school she will get into yet and I don't really know what they are like yet). However that's not really the issue - geographically where she would be would be far away from the nursery that I want dd1 to go to so she has same opportunities/great child care that dd1 has had. Sorry this is long - anyway my point is would it be madness to keep dd1 at the private school until dd2 is ready for state school?! Fees for the next few years are relatively low and we could afford it and logistically it would be far easier for us. But is it silly to spend the money, to have to move dd1 at a later age?! Thanks if you have got this far.

To add the logistics are what is the most important part - I work three days and DH works away so the logistics of ferrying them to two diff places miles apart just wouldn't work

My main concern would be whether or not you could get a place for your older child if they didn't start in Reception. You need to check that the school(s) you are interested in aren't heavily oversubscribed. If the classes are full you might not get a place at a later date.

That's my concern too. There is a good school slightly out of cachement that I would like to her to go which is over subscribed but I have naively thought that maybe we might be able to move to that area within the time period, or it might be easier to get in by then.

I think it would be pretty unfair on your older child, tbh.

How so Huitre - in terms of moving her when she is settled and happy? This is my fear too. Moving now prob won't be as bad.

Yes, I think it would be hard on her if she had settled well and was happy. I moved schools a lot as a child for unavoidable reasons and I think it can be difficult. Better to try and get her into a school you are happy with now so her sister can join her later.

I'm with Huitre. I think, where possible, it makes sense for all children to start together in Reception. Obviously people sometimes move house and the like, but if that isn't in the equation, I'd want my older dc to start at the normal time.
Your younger one wouldn't need to be in Nursery (as in, attendance / punctuality being important at school), so surely you could drop the older one at school and then take the younger one to Nursery without the same time pressure as the school ? Or, many PVIs open to cover breakfast time anyway, so dropping the younger one first could be an option ???
I also think it would be unlikely that there would just happen to be a space available when you wanted it, if you didn't take it up in Reception.

What if your DD1 does settle in really well at the private school - wouldn't you want your DD2 to have the same opportunity? Also if you were to move your DD1 after a number of years, even if you move to be very close another school it doesn't mean you'd get a place there. If the school is oversubscribed it's possible your DD1 wouldn't get a place there.

I think your comments confirm what I already know - I just can't get my head around the logistics of it. On my days off it's not an issue but I have a fairly long commute and I just don't know how we are going to do it. The obvious thing would be to find child care closer to the school dd1 will attend but nurseries would be out as I looked at each and every one (which is partly why we ended up in this situation in first place) but it has been so hard to find good child care and be happy with it I would be reluctant to start again. Thanks for comments

Childminders?